Tiptoft, John

, Earl of Worcester, a patron of
learning, and one of the few literary ornaments of England
in the fifteenth century, was born at Everton, or Eversten, in
Cambridgeshire, and educated at Baliol college, Oxford.
He was son of the lord Tibetot, or Tiptoft, and Powys, and
was created a viscount and earl of Worcester by king
Henry VI. and appointed lord deputy of Ireland. By Edward IV. he was made knight of the garter, and constituted
justice of North Wales for life. Dugdale says, he was soon
after made constable of the Tower for life, and twice treasurer of the king’s exchequer, but other historians say he
was twice lord high constable, and twice lord treasurer:
the first time, according to Lud. Carbo, at twenty-five years
old; and again deputy of Ireland for the duke of Clarence.
But whatever dispute there may be about his titles in the
state, there is no doubt that he was eminently at the head
of literature, and so masterly an orator, that he drew tears
from the eyes of pope PiusII. otherwise Æneas Sylvius, a
munificent patron of letters. This was on pronouncing an
oration before the pontiff when he visited Rome, through
a curiosity of seeing the Vatican library, after he had resided at Padua and Venice, and made great purchases of
books. He is said to have given Mss. tonne value of 500
marks to duke Humphrey’s library at Oxford. He was
about this time on his return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which expedition is partly attributed to the suspence
of his lordship’s mind between gratitude to king Henry and
loyalty to king Edward; but he seems not to have been
much influenced by the former, in the opinion of lord Orford. It is certain that Richard Nevil, earl of Warwick,
did not ascribe much gratitude to him, nor did Worcester
confide much in any merit of that sort; for, absconding
during the short restoration of Henry, and being taken concealed in a tree in Wey bridge-forest in Huntingdonshire,
he was brought to London, accused of cruelty in his administration of Ireland, particularly towards two infant sons
of the earl of D^mon.il, and condemned and beheaded at
the Tower in 1470. For his imputed offences, some authors are inclined to allow a foundation, but in these
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turbulent times malice and political intrigue are supposed to
have frequently had a share in fallen greatness. Pennant,
however, is of opinion that all his love for the sciences did
not protect him from imbibing the temper of the unhappy
times he lived in.

Caxton, who was his printer, says that he “in his tyme
flowred in vertue and cunnyng, and to whom he knew none
lyke emong the lordes of the temporalite in science and
moral vertue.” He translated “Cicero de Amicitia,” and
“Two Declarations made by Publius Cornelius Scipio, and
Gayus Flamyneus, competitors for the love of Lucrece,”
which he dedicated to Edward IV. He also wrote some
other orations and epistles, and Englished “Ceaser’s Commentaries, as touching British affairs,” published without
the name of printer, place, or date, but supposed to be
printed by Rastell, from its type. The margin contains
the original Latin in Roman character. In the reign of
Edward IV. he drew up “Orders for placing the nobility
in all proceedings,” and “Orders and Statutes for justs
and triumphs,” both Mss. in the Cotton library. In the
Ashmolean collection are “Ordinances, statutes, and rules,
made by John Tiptoft, earle of Worcester, and constable
of England, by the king’s commandment, at Windsor, to
be observed in all manner of justes of peirs within the
realm of England, &c.” These ordinances were again revived in the 4th of> Elizabeth, and are printed in Mr. Park’s
edition of Harrington’s “Nugge Antique.” He is also said
to have written “A petition against the Lollards,” and an
“Oration to the citizens of Padua” In the Mss. belonging to the cathedral of Lincoln, lord Orford mentions a volume of some twenty epistles, of which four are written by
our earl, and the rest addressed to him; but the late MrGough, after a careful search, could not find them in that
collection. 1

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